Cause Principle Unity

On magic
Cicada, 17 which was once used as a cemetery for plague victims. I myself,
as well as many others, have personally experienced them while walking
through that place at night. I was bombarded with many stones which violently
exploded at a very short distance from my head and other parts of
my body, and this continued in a threatening manner for some time.
Nevertheless, these stones did not inflict any bodily injuries on me or on
any of the others who reported the same experience. These incidents are
reported by Psellus in his book De daemonibus (On Demons), where he
describes them as refugees from light and as throwers of stones, although
their projectiles are harmless.
The existence of subterranean demons is established not only by the
senses, experience and reason, but also by divine authority in the very wise
Book of Job, which contains a great deal of the most profound philosophy.
When Job curses the day he was born with the words, ‘May the day of my
birth perish’, he adds after a few sentences, ‘Why was light given to one in
misery, and why was life given to those who are bitter of heart?’ ‘Why did
I not perish as soon as I left the womb?’ ‘Why was I not hidden and replaced
after having been aborted?’ ‘For now I would be silently asleep and would
rest in my dreams together with the rulers and princes of the earth, who
have built isolated houses for themselves and have filled them with their silver.’
The point at hand could not have been more clearly stated than in
these words from the mouth of Job himself. 18
As was said above, different spirits reside in different bodies, and their
ranks are distinguished by a definite order and justice. Origen, Pythagoras
and the Platonists list humans among the demons, including those who are
not good but who could become good or evil as they live out their lives in a
better or worse way. This is why both Christian theologians and the better
philosophers say that life is like a road and a transition, a journey and a
fight. The same judgement applies to other types of beings. Furthermore,
we know that the best things into which a soul or spirit enters are the things
which persevere the longest. That is what we said at the beginning: namely,
all spiritual substances reduce to one, all material substances to three, there
is one soul, one God, one first mind above all things and one soul of the
universe.
Also, it is very probable that all illnesses are due to evil demons, which
17 Mount Cicada (or Cicale or Cicala) is adjacent to Bruno’s native town of Nola, immediately east of
Naples. Its foreboding appearance made a deep and lasting impression on him during his childhood.
18 See Job, 3: 3–20.
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